Former Leeds boss Simon Grayson claims Whites have underachieved this season

Former Leeds United boss Simon Grayson has claimed that the Whites will feel that they have underachieved this season, as a club of their size should be looking to make it into the play-off places, the Lancashire Evening Post reports.

Steve Evans' men travel to face Grayson's Preston North End side on the final day of the season knowing that it would take a monumental performance at Deepdale to go above the Lilywhites and into 11th in the table, while a defeat could see them finish 14th.

And Grayson - whose time in charge saw United secure their strongest finish since their return to the second tier as they finished seventh the year after securing promotion from League One - believes that his old club should be looking to be battling for promotion on the final day, rather than settling for a strong mid-table finish.

"Leeds are a big club and have not been getting anywhere near the expectancy levels which the supporters have," he told the Lancashire Evening Post.

"When they look back over the course of this season, Leeds will be thinking they have underachieved.

"With the size of club they are, the budget they have which is probably two or three times bigger than ours, they should be striving for the top six."

While Grayson was unable to bring top flight football back to Elland Road, the squad that he had in the third tier and then developed in the Championship had the potential to take that next step if he was given the backing.

For example, Kasper Schmeichel is now a Premier League winner, while the likes of Jermaine Beckford, Jonny Howson and Max Gradel have all played at the highest level since leaving the club along with several other members of that squad.

And while names like Alex Mowatt, Charlie Taylor and Lewis Cook have threatened to take Leeds up the table, every manager that has worked for the club recently appears to have had to concentrate on getting the balance right between planning for the future, and making sure that results are strong enough in the short-term to ensure that he can be the one to deliver that future.

Evans is perhaps the one that has come closest to getting that balance right since Grayson left the club, but if he is not given the backing in the summer, then the Preston boss may well be saying exactly the same things about his old side this time next year.